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Interesting. I think only Dye could get away with manufacturing out of the country to save money and than charge more for it...? WTH? I'm also a little amazed that importing paintballs is economical. Seems like the weight would make transportation costs outweight the saving gained by cheaper labor.

Interesting. I think only Dye could get away with manufacturing out of the country to save money and than charge more for it...? WTH? I'm also a little amazed that importing paintballs is economical. Seems like the weight would make transportation costs outweight the saving gained by cheaper labor.

The box and packaging are the best I've seen hands down.

But really the zip lock bags that stay standing up are useless to me, I use a paintball caddy, just dump two bags at a time in it.

If their target market is tourney players they arent going to be impressed by the box and zip lock bags more than 30 seconds either.

Whats sad is I could tell the paint had gotten cold because it was expanded except at the seam.

A few years ago I bought some APX paint, it was shipped to me during a week that it was 19 degrees here and it looked the same as this DYE stuff did.

Heat is more apt to make the balls swell than cold will. Cold contracts them and makes them very brittle. This is the reason you don't want to store an already brittle paint at low temperatures. If you bump the box you get a bunch of mush.

I would say yours were stored somewhere that got overheated prior to delivery.

Except for the Automag in front, its usually the man behind the equipment that counts.

As the paint gets older, it shrinks. With more and more of it being made overseas and shipped here, not only is the paint smaller, but the shelf life decreases as well. That Valken crap shoots ok when you first open the box if you are lucky enough to get a case that isnt 100 years old already.. but just try to shoot any of it that you have left over ...

Heat is more apt to make the balls swell than cold will. Cold contracts them and makes them very brittle. This is the reason you don't want to store an already brittle paint at low temperatures. If you bump the box you get a bunch of mush.

I would say yours were stored somewhere that got overheated prior to delivery.

Freezing liquid expands.
I had it happen before and at 19 degrees I dont think it overheated.

Freezing water expands because of the shape of the molecule. Only a few molecules expand when frozen, and water just happens to be one of them. I'm not sure if there is enough water in paintballs to cause an expansion issue if frozen.

Its not the expansion that causes the problem with the balls. Its that the shell can be more easily manipulated at higher temperatures than at lower temperatures. One problem that does happen with cold or frozen paintballs is condensation. If condensation gets on the shell because the cold ball is placed in a warm environment, then the moisture can cause a lot of problems with the shape of the ball.

Ironically, today I was cleaning out my basement and found a 10 round tube of PMI paint that I had put away in a box back in 1993. It was from a case of 2500 (case sizes of 2000 had just started coming out). It had been through a few days of subzero winter storage in the past. The balls were round and actually broke nicer than when they were new. A few years ago I had a case of Zap chronic that I had stored for years under the same conditions. When I shot it about 4 years after it was purchased (tournaments and field paint only prevented its use), it shot better and broke nicer than when it was new. To this day, that case has been the best paint I have ever shot. The previous 13 case of the same Zap chronic and subsequent dozens of cases of chronic I had shot were nice but not near as nice as the 4 year old stuff.

Man. The 4 year old diablo paint I found still in my pods from last time I had tried to play was so swollen it was getting stuck in my hopper or breech. So I couldn't use it. But the diablo from 02 or so that I shot back in 09 worked. just didn't shoot strait. All of that paint was stored in the same pods in the same bedroom. And since I hate the cold I probably never let it get below 70.

Freezing water expands because of the shape of the molecule. Only a few molecules expand when frozen, and water just happens to be one of them. I'm not sure if there is enough water in paintballs to cause an expansion issue if frozen.

Its not the expansion that causes the problem with the balls. Its that the shell can be more easily manipulated at higher temperatures than at lower temperatures. One problem that does happen with cold or frozen paintballs is condensation. If condensation gets on the shell because the cold ball is placed in a warm environment, then the moisture can cause a lot of problems with the shape of the ball.

Ironically, today I was cleaning out my basement and found a 10 round tube of PMI paint that I had put away in a box back in 1993. It was from a case of 2500 (case sizes of 2000 had just started coming out). It had been through a few days of subzero winter storage in the past. The balls were round and actually broke nicer than when they were new. A few years ago I had a case of Zap chronic that I had stored for years under the same conditions. When I shot it about 4 years after it was purchased (tournaments and field paint only prevented its use), it shot better and broke nicer than when it was new. To this day, that case has been the best paint I have ever shot. The previous 13 case of the same Zap chronic and subsequent dozens of cases of chronic I had shot were nice but not near as nice as the 4 year old stuff.

Awesome.

I can only go by my experience.

I had balls shipped to me when we had a 19 degree cold snap here and they swelled except for the seam, and these DYE balls looked about the same except the seam didnt split like some of the APX stuff did.

I was merely pointing out my observation, both paints still shot fine.

I know for a fact what cause the APX paint issue, 19 degree cold my friend, it wasnt heat as you keep saying.

Maybe heat does the same thing, I live in Florida and it gets hot here, I've not had paint do that from heat, ever.

No idea what caused the DYE paint to look slightly swelled like the APX stuff , I was merely speculating since I know for certain cold caused the same and worse before.

I think the main thing that is important for paint when storing or transporting is consistency in temperature. In my cases, the paint never experienced large fluctuations in temperature in short time frames, only over larger time frames. It was also stored and supported properly. The temperatures experienced by a shipment of paint from Taiwan could be vast, even this time of year. The paint would be shipped by container ship. It could be subject to high temperatures in Taiwan and coming across the Pacific with the containers in direct sunlight heating up like an oven. The balls would probably sweat a bit or evaporate some of their moisture into the bag they are in. Then you get to a colder climate and have some of the humidity condense on the surface of the balls. I can see why they would be out of round.

You can help the balls regain their proper shape using heat but you must keep them sealed from moisture. This simulates the same procedure they go through during manufacturing. The ball shells will soften so it is important that there are no external forces on the surface of the ball (ie;lay the bags of balls out as flat as possible when doing this). The pressures inside a sphere will be equal in all directions so the balls will want to become round. Let them cool after they have regained their shape. They will be a bit soft and rubbery. Store them in a cool place after that and it will make the shells more brittle.